2023 9 Man State Football Playoffs

[Sorenson23]

First Round
Saturday October 21st
G1 - R2#4 Nelson County def R1#1 (#1) Sargent County 30-29
G2 - R2#2 North Prairie def R1#3 Wyndmere-Lidgerwood 44-26
G3 - R3#1 (#4) Westhope-Newburg-Glenburn def R4#3 Linton-HMB-Strasburg-Zeeland 48-42
G4 - R4#2 Grant County-Flasher def R3#3 Central McLean 40-22

G5 - R2#1 (#2) New Rockford-Sheyenne-Maddock def Hankinson 55-22
G6 - R1#2 LaMoure-L-M def R2#3 North Star 64-20
G7 - R4#1 (#3) South Border def R3#4 Mohall-Lansford-Sherwood 56-0
G8 - R4#3 Hettinger County def R3#2 Alexander 22-20 OT

Quarterfinals
Saturday October 28th
G9 - R2#2 North Prairie def R2#4 Nelson County 36-22
G10 - R3#1 (#4) Westhope-Newburg-Glenburn def R4#2 Grant County-Flasher 52-22
G11 - R2#1 (#2) New Rockford-Sheyenne-Maddock def R1#2 LaMoure-L-M 24-18
G12 - R4#1 (#3) South Border def R4#3 Hettinger County 24-18

Semi-Finals
Saturday November 4th
G13 - R2#2 North Prairie def R3#1 (#4) Westhope-Newburg-Glenburn 54-36
G14 - R4#1 (#3) South Border def R2#1 (#2) New Rockford-Sheyenne-Maddock 32-28

Dakota Bowl
Friday November 11th
G14 - 9 Man State Title Game - R2#2 North Prairie def (#3) R4#1 South Border 16-8

[WalkingStick]

The correct setup of the bracket is
G1 - (5-3) R2#4 Nelson County @ R1#1 Sargent County (9-0)
G2 - (6-2) R1#3 Wyndmere-Lidgerwood @ R2#2 North Prairie (8-1)

G3 - 6-3) R4#4 Linton-HMB-Strasburg-Zeeland @ R3#1 Westhope-Newburg-Glenburn (9-0)
G4 - (7-2) R3#3 Central McLean @ R4#2 Grant County-Flasher (7-2)

G5 - (5-4) R1#4 Hankinson @ R2#1 New Rockford-Sheyenne-Maddock (8-0)
G6 - (6-2) R2#3 North Star @ R1#2 LaMoure-L-M (7-2)

G7 - (6-3) R3#4 Mohall-Lansford-Sherwood @ R4#1 South Border (9-0)
G8 - (6-3) R4#3 Hettinger County @ R3#2 Alexander (8-1)

[Sorenson23]

Updated, thanks

[ChickenNuggets]

I posted this on the 11B Thread as well, but in 9-man the #1 overall seed certainly doesn't have any easier road to the semi-finals than say the #2 or #3... so what if they had seeded region runner-ups as well and went out to 8 total seeded teams. It might look something like this. (Next year it looks like 9-man goes back to the 8-region format as they are expecting more than 40 teams in the division).

Nelson County @ #1 Sargent County
Hettinger County @ #8 Alexander

Wyndmere/Lidgerwood @ #5 North Prairie
Linton HMB @ #4 Westhope-N-G

Mohall-Lansford-Sherwood @ #3 South Border
North Star @ #6 LaMoure

Central McLean @ #7 Grant County-Flasher
Hankinson @ #2 New Rockford-Sheyenne

I could see LaMoure and GC-F flip-flopping but left them this way to keep regional teams from hitting in the 2nd round.

[Sorenson23]

Sargent County by 20
North Prairie by 20
W-N-G by 8
Grant County-Flasher by 20

New Rockford-Sheyenne-Maddock by 30
LaMoure-L-M by 10
South Border by 30
Hettinger County by 8

[TC21]

I agree that the top eight teams should be seated. Sargeant County should not have to face north Prairie in the quarterfinals. I know if they were seated. They would still meet in the semi finals, but that would be a little bit better. I feel these two teams are probably the two best teams in the state. Remember North Prairie was a two-point conversion away in overtime from being the overall number one seed. In a game that they played without their top two QBs for 3 1/2 quarters. I realize the region winners have to be the top four seeds but I don’t think it’s fair to sargeant county that they have to play the clear # 5 team in the state in the quarterfinals. Would have been better if they were the 2 or 3 seed.

[Flip]

I agree that the top eight teams should be seated. Sargeant County should not have to face north Prairie in the quarterfinals. I know if they were seated. They would still meet in the semi finals, but that would be a little bit better. I feel these two teams are probably the two best teams in the state. Remember North Prairie was a two-point conversion away in overtime from being the overall number one seed. In a game that they played without their top two QBs for 3 1/2 quarters. I realize the region winners have to be the top four seeds but I don’t think it’s fair to sargeant county that they have to play the clear # 5 team in the state in the quarterfinals. Would have been better if they were the 2 or 3 seed.

IMO this is just the way it goes. In basketball, it's possible to have the two best teams in the same region, they both can't go to state, at least previous to this year.

[ChickenNuggets]

I agree that the top eight teams should be seated. Sargeant County should not have to face north Prairie in the quarterfinals. I know if they were seated. They would still meet in the semi finals, but that would be a little bit better. I feel these two teams are probably the two best teams in the state. Remember North Prairie was a two-point conversion away in overtime from being the overall number one seed. In a game that they played without their top two QBs for 3 1/2 quarters. I realize the region winners have to be the top four seeds but I don’t think it’s fair to sargeant county that they have to play the clear # 5 team in the state in the quarterfinals. Would have been better if they were the 2 or 3 seed.

IMO this is just the way it goes. In basketball, it's possible to have the two best teams in the same region, they both can't go to state, at least previous to this year.

Right... and that is part of the reason why it was changed. They could improve the playoff format a great deal by making this change. Next year the 9-man division likely goes back to 8 regions so there will be seeding through 8, but it still doesn't help if you have a region with 2 powerhouses.

[Flip]

Round 1
I have all the higher seeds winning.

Quarterfinals
North Prairie over Sargent County
Westhope over Grant County
New Rockford over Lamoure
South Border over Alexander

Semis
North Prairie over Westhope
New Rockford over South Border

Championship
North Prairie over New Rockford

[Sorenson23]

Updated 10/21/23 @ 7:53 pm

[sportsphenom]

I agree that the top eight teams should be seated. Sargeant County should not have to face north Prairie in the quarterfinals. I know if they were seated. They would still meet in the semi finals, but that would be a little bit better. I feel these two teams are probably the two best teams in the state. Remember North Prairie was a two-point conversion away in overtime from being the overall number one seed. In a game that they played without their top two QBs for 3 1/2 quarters. I realize the region winners have to be the top four seeds but I don’t think it’s fair to sargeant county that they have to play the clear # 5 team in the state in the quarterfinals. Would have been better if they were the 2 or 3 seed.

Guess we don’t have to worry about that quarterfinal matchup.

[TC21]

No we don’t have to worry about that matchup. I new Nelson county was probably the best # 4 seed in the tournament but I never thought they could take down the tournaments # 1 overall seed. Does anyone know when the last time the tournaments overall # 1 seed lost in the first round??

[Bacon]

Region 4 has proven yet again to be a very strong region. 3 of four teams won and Linton only lost by one score to a region number 1.

[TC21]

I agree region 4 is a tough region and 3 out of the 4 teams got it done but they also played against region three which was the weakest region in the state by far and it’s not close. Region 2 is the toughest region in the state with three out of the four teams winning also against tougher competition out of region 1. Region twos number 4 knocked off the overall state number 1 seed which I don’t ever remember happening in nine man football before.

[Flip]

Does anyone know when the last time the tournaments overall # 1 seed lost in the first round??

It's probably never happened. They haven't seeded the region champions that many years and since the playoff format changes every 1-2 years the #1 overall seed doesn't even play in the first round every year, like last year.

Region 4 has proven yet again to be a very strong region. 3 of four teams won and Linton only lost by one score to a region number 1.

I'm more of the belief Region 4 > Region 3 than Region 4 is very good.

[TC21]

I’m not sure what you are talking about “region 4>region 3 than region 4 is very good” ??

[Flip]

Region 4 is better than Region 3. I'm not a believer that Region 4 is good.

[TC21]

Ok I see. Region 3 I believe is the weakest of the 4 regions also.

[maddog1971]

What Happened to Sargent County? They were absolutely destroying everyone and the first round comes up and boom... Injuries? Poor Play... Poor Coaching or did they just get their butts beat by a better team?